It is so Hot outside...yes I said Hot. Claudia (my cube neighbor) said it is "turn your air on in your car" kinda hot. That being how hot it is...just had to rub it in your face kinda hot.
Maybe close to 65 out there for December 30.

So back to work and feels good to get back in the groove of things. I was in my pajamas for two days straight. Thank God Mr. Allain (R's friend from NC and no relation) showed up and gave me a reason to get dressed and out of the house. We had a nice little visit but he didn't realize that his town in NC is four hours away from SC and he was tired after spending the day with us. He is a good friend to R. and it was nice to have someone visit. He told us about the new store and how much more space for fishing tackle. If you want to check it out, here is the website:
http://www.castawayfishingsupply.com/

The picture to the far left is J.

I think R. got the fishing bug after talking to J. but then again he always loved fishing.

Christmas is for Children

I love to see children react to Christmas things around them. The awe in which they stare at the Christmas lights. The little eyes so wide with excitement at seeing Santa at the mall or live donkey's at the live Nativity.
I love how even the older ones who seem they might know Santa personally, keep the spirit alive by pretending to know Santa came. I love Christmas because of the children and seeing how these memories will be with them a lifetime.

D-MD said the picture from Mt. Tom was in October of 1978!

My memory of Mt. Tom is the way they made poor teenager D take the lift all the way to the top and he hadn't even taken a lesson yet. By the end of the day, that kid was doing jumps! I also have a great picture of Dad pointing to the back of my jeans that show all the "wax" from the alpine slide where I slid off. The lasting physically memory I have of Mt. Tom is the way my freckles got removed from my right arm and have slowly filled back in again. Oh one more memory from 1997. I took my little person friend from AT&T to Mt. Tom. Doreen had to have them shut the lift off every time so she could get lifted on to the seat. She had them laughing by the end of the day, that she got to show them that size didn't matter. She skied better than anyone on that mountain. I just got a Christmas card from her and to think that she could have babies and go through all the labor and delivery and only be 4feet 2inches tall still amazes me. You have to watch that show, "Little People, Big World" so see that little people are just like everyone else.
I will miss skiing and snowshoeing and hope that Loon gets lots of snow for everyone to visit the condo this year.

Christmas 1990

The Christmas picture I just posted to the blog is of MPOM with Molly and TJ when they were probably 3 & 4 yrs old. I love the way TJ has a little cowboy outfit on. If his EOD unit could see him now!
I also love how MPOM had a Christmas sweatshirt on! These are the type of things that I remember about Christmas' past. I also loved having Christmas at Mom's house. It always felt so warm and comfy and like Christmas is suppose to feel.
I will miss that this year!

So I received a subscription to a magazine called "Reminisce" from my mother-in-law. It has stories from people about the past and this month is all about Christmas. It has picture of ladies in the 70's with the teased hair and short skirts dancing with their husbands in basement for New Year's Eve. It reminded me of Mom's redheaded hairpiece she wore with the Go-Go boots to make her look like one Hot Mama. When I went home this year for her 75th birthday, everyone got to say to her one of the memories. I think it was John who told her he rememberd the white Go-Go boots she wore and then Moe chimed in about the hairpiece and teasing her hair in buffount.
Just brings back memories of their home parties and how Mom went all out with matching dishes for each entree. R still laughs at the "relish tray". He never knew there was such a thing.

Why? I often wonder why certain people have such good luck and others are always facing the worst luck you wouldn't wish on your enemies. Take my best friend Judy...why does she have to go through so much? She lost Tony when he was 40 by trying to revive him after massive heart attack. How many 40 year old widows are there? Not only to have the lasting mental image of him during this, but to have to plan a funeral and deal with not having your husband there to help raise your daughter?
Then she gets a double whammy with the ovarian cancer. To think that she didn't have enough emotional crap with losing Tony but now she has to worry about herself passing away if cancer spreads. She calls to tell me, "want to hear the latest" and I admit I want to shout "NO!" What else could go wrong?
She went to gastroentrologist and finds out that during Gastric bypass, they did not make the opening to her stomach big enough. She still had the solid food from the day before in her stomach during the endoscopy (?spell) That is why she kept vomiting and that is why her first round of chemo pills did not work and the tumor is still the same size in her ovary. She had to make a decision to either keep going with chemo or have radical hysterectomy. She walked in ready to tell the doctor to go with hysterectomy and he told her he would rather her try the chemo again. Now that they figured out why, maybe the chemo pills will help.
I know she has had enough pain in her life. When will God give her some good luck and grant that girl a happy life? I see/hear her pain and from a distance I want to reach out and hug her and tell her everything will be okay...but how do I know?
Please pray for my friend Judy. She needs all the prayers she can get.

R and I were at a meat market the other day and all of a sudden I was craving Gorton. Yes there probably should be some kind of accent a goo (how do you spell that little thingy you put above a guy name Claude name?)
So I called Mom to get her Gorton recipe. She gave it over the phone from memorization of course, but said she would check her recipe and just to make sure. She called back today and said she couldn't find her recipe but that I should make it to taste. I long for some Gorton so will be making some next weekend from how Mom told me. For those of you interested in knowing what Gorton is, it is a French spread kind of like pate (again where is that accent a goo thingy).
Take your 1 pound of ground pork butt and put it in a skillet with salt, pepper and finely chopped onions. Add water so the meat is covered. Do not cover pan. Leave on low and slow for 1 hour. Keep adding water if needed so meat is always covered. You can skim off fat if you like. The meat should resemble hamburg with a gray color. Remove from heat and add 1/8 tsp of ground clove and 1/2 tsp of allspice. This is where Mom wasn't sure of measurements so said add to taste.
If anyone has Mom's recipe, let me know. Until then, I will try my best to keep the French in me fed.
Au Revoir

So they always say bad things happen in three's. I would have to say I have reached my limit when it come to bad things right about now. First R gets laid off, then his truck gets vandalized, then my car wouldn't start. Someone tried to get in to his truck by putting a screwdriver in his lock and wasn't successful but made his handle come away from frame. He said to me, "go see if the camper is okay". So I get in my car, chug-chug-chug then nothing. Electric works but has rained out and I know Pat always sprayed my wires with dryer and it would start. Tried that..chug, chug, chug...nothing. Went to Wal-Mart to look for distributor cap. R's boss is walking towards us and seemed to be very unpleasant moment. They asked if we were Christmas shopping, I said, "No my car died and looking for distributor cap". I wanted them to know we weren't in mood for Christmas. R said he should have told them, "I can't afford Christmas shopping this year because you laid me OFF!!!!" Always think of things to say after the person walks away. So the new distributor cap didn't work and neither did my car. It finally started the next day when it was sunny out and has worked all week long.
This morning it was mild out so I walked out with just a festive snowman sweater on. It is now pouring buckets out and my mind is whether or not my car will start. At least I have a ride home. Thank the Lord I am not stuck in Bok' needing a ride to NB.
So R called police to report the vandalism and female sherrif with pink handcuffs ("yes they work", she said) jokes to R, "You hope those are the three bad things that have happened". UH? What? SHUT UP!

Sausage Day

We pulled out the meat grinder and tubs to get ready to make our Christmas sausages for this year. R had bought two Boston Butts yesterday and we mixed in lean hamburg this year also. We mix up a batch of Bratwurst and were getting ready to stuff the casings. Both of our backs started to hurt so we took a break. R is snoring on the couch right now listening to Burl Ives sing "Holly Jolly Christmas". Brier is snoring behind me on his bed too.
Getting ready to go out on a Christmas hayride with The Endres Family, who will be heading back to Germany in a two weeks. We wanted to show them a little Christmas spirit before they leave. Mini Miracles Farm has hayrides, live Nativity, lights and Christmas Carols while we are there. Looks cold enough to wear my snowman sweater from Moe.

Dicken's Christmas

We went to R's supervisor house last night to give them a invite to Christmas Hayride on Saturday. We thought they would be going to the Dickens Christmas downtown. They were told from their friends that it was postponed until Friday. We showed them online where it wasn't and they ran around getting ready. We followed them there and had a nice time walking around, listening to the music by children's orchestra, carols sung by people dressed in Dickens era clothing, Nutcracker Ballet in storefront window, Hand Bell choir was in shoe store and we sung along, Santa lending his lap to kids who wanted to tell him what they wanted, carriage rides and final tree lighting ceremony. It was a nice chilly night that got us all in the spirit.

Southern Drawl Accent needed

Joke from your crazy southern country friend Dena, not just kiddin.



Did you know that the 3 wisemen were firemen?

They came from a far.

Unemployment

R drives all the way down to unemployment. About 40 people are standing outside the building since it hadn't even opened yet. Someone was telling him that he could do it online so he waited until he got inside and true enough, there was a poster saying to make a claim online. He drove back home, since he wasn't feel well enough to wait in line with 40 other people at 8am, and did it all online. The modern miracle of internet! But the way R types, I bet it was very frustrating for him. The victim of the automotive industry demise. If only Ford didn't cancel their open orders with K and if only the economy was better. Two steps forward, three steps back.

Not a good night

My body is sore and it is just from getting old and being fat. My knees are buckling when I try to stand up and ache when I walk up stairs. I am suppose to go bowling to make up for missed league night, but am trying to muster up the strength to do it. I know R really wants to go bowling, now that he found a sport that is a) cheap enough to afford right now and b) inside away from harsh weather.
Speaking of harsh weather....I still would love one more trip in the woods. It is a tradition to go to Big River the day after Thanksgiving for hunting. I will miss Big River and knowing my way through the woods by myself. I mean, with my GPS of course. I love that thing. We use to go Geocaching with it and I will have to suggest to R to start that again, since it is Free and fun to do.
Rambling...that is because it is 12:12am and I have bathroom issues that are keeping me up. For those of you who know me, I don't like having bathroom issues and know that is it stress. We went over our bills for the month of December and although it will be tight, we are okay. It is January that is the problem. Hopefully R's unemployment will kick it. He was officially told he was being laid off on Friday. They also told him it was due to economy and losing automotive business (which has been lead story on the news all last week). They tried blaming him for his work performance and saying he needed two weeks off to think about his job. That was crap seeing how now the owner told him things are very bad with Ford pulling orders and still owning the company money.
He starts questioning himself and because he thinks he is old now and won't get a job. I told him you have to believe in yourself and think positive. That was never easy for him to do...he always is Mr. Pessimistic.
I think he can find anything down here even in this bad economy. The question is whether or not he will like it and if they pay him what he is use to making. He is a welder which normally they make pretty good money. I only pray that God will show him the way. I keep thinking that things happen for a reason and hope the reason is to find something better. Needless to say, the pressure of him being laid off, bored out of his mind sitting at home, using computer hunting for jobs is taking its effect already. I am nervous he is getting depressed and with holidays coming up, I know it is causing him stress. I know my own stress isn't helping and trying to find a way to keep things positive and happy. It ain't always easy....

1st Thanksgiving in SC-

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back to keep me warm, food in my belly to keep me full. I have friends who have become like family to us in our new home.
R bought a turkey last weekend and since we always have our own separate Thanksgiving early, since we normally would be going to his sister's on Turkey Day, we wanted to keep our own tradition alive. Plus once you see Thanksgiving decorations, and Food Network shows you start to get a craving for turkey, stuffing and gravy. He bought a 14lb turkey for the two of us. So I told him we can't eat that all by ourselves so we invited the MA gang over from apt. complex. We had a feast of course! Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans w/mushrooms (his dad always made that for Thanksgiving). He also made his own bread/rolls which is our tradition. For all the mouths there, we still had plenty left. Our friends brought desserts and we all had plenty to eat. I think little Cohen ate only cake!
But the whole day was a blessing from God to say thank you for our blessings, our friends, our family who couldn't be there.

Not into politics

I think it was that saying of not talking politics or religon in front of people that always made me shy away from getting to know my democratic duty of votiing. I knew the Electoral College are the ones who vote for the President and I remember learning about this and thinking...then why bother voting? I did not vote yesterday. I did drive to the school where I would have voted, but the line was long and it I did not know we could come to work late and not be marked against us. Then after work was the first night of bowling and to be honest, I really didn't want to stand in line for two hours. I really don't care that is my point. If I had really cared about the whole process, who my President will be and if my role as an American would have changed that, I would have voted. No harm no foul since even if McCain got voted in, we are still in financial recession due to the banking/mortage industry.

Brems just emailed the old Bok team to let us know his cube mate just had the "Peanut Buttah Jelly Song" on and he was jamming to his cube thinking back to when Emil would que it up in the afternoon and make us all laugh.
Just think that people come into our lives for a reason...even if it is just to play an annoying but funny song to make us all laugh.
Miss you guys very much!

I changed over my closet from summer to winter and have clothes that I either can't fit in or just have gone out of style. The problem is that there aren't any of those Red Cross clothing bins or St. Vincent de Paul or Planet Earth or Kids for Education bins. The only place I found you can bring your old clothes is the Goodwill Kiosk which you have to wait for them to be "open". I use to love the drop off on Rt. 140 rest area. It was so convient but now I have clothes that I want to get rid of and probably will end up trashing them just to be easier. Why do they make being enviromental hard.

I was wishing that I was the proprietor of "O'Malley's Tavern" here in Spartanburg. I know we have Delaney's Irish Pub downtown but that caters more to the drinker than to the foodie in all of us. I remember O'Connor's in West Boylston and their Guiness Pie that was out of this world. And they also had phenomenal Murphy's Onion Soup. Of course they can't call it French Onion soup that would be a mockery.
Then I got to thinking about carrying on the tradition of O'Malley's and how that would be a great legacy since my name is changed, yet it is written all over my face. I got to thinking about Fiddler's Green and how I just read that Silverstein's are opening the restaurant at airport. What a small world..here in my blog I posted about going clothes shopping at Silversteins when I was little. (Wednesday, December 12, 2007). Here they are opening a restaurant just like I want to do. Fiddler's Green was the ultimate for me. I wished I was old enough to drink but heard how all the other siblings were there having great times. "It's No Nay Never..(clap clap clap clap)" You have to do the clapping or else you look like a jerk. Speaking of that tune, we went to Walhalla Oktoberfest last Saturday. Yes it went right by Clemson and all that "hunter's orange" on everyone. R yelled out the window, "GO PATRIOTS" and I laughed so hard. Walhalla is a cute little town and the fair was run very smoothly. The Little German Band from Raleigh, NC played music and got the whole crowd involved. They said they played a song in Belgium that was for rowing a boat. The tune was the same as "No Nay Never". R and I looked at each other and said, "That's an Irish song!".
What a surprise I just got...TJ called me and I answered it thinking it was R. He had to say, Auntie Chris it's TJ! Oh man that just made my day~
I feel so happy knowing that my nephew has grown into such a fine man. It is hard to believe that little baby I held is now protecting my freedom in this country. My phone started to click for call answering and I joked with him saying I am just as technologically challenged as his mother. He said, "no your not, you at least know how to email someone". Kudos to me.
It was Judy calling and looking forward to seeing her while on trip back to MA. 'God willing and the Creek don't rise' we'll have a safe trip.
Deer rut is making me nervous about traveling at night. So what if I hit a deer, are we allowed to keep it? In MA I know the law states that the person who hit the deer has the right to claim it. But then the question is, do you need to tag it in somewhere?

Getting better at this Twitter thing

So now I am learning how to Twitter and getting all excited finding information about how to save money using coupons, fishing, found and excellent blog from woman who raised German Shorthairs and then her blog led me to The Women's Outdoors. So much information out on the web that my neck is on fire from all this mouse moving.

I am so technology-challegned it is not funny. The fact that I have a computer and know a little something is to my credit. But start doing these new things like Twitter and I have no clue. I just learned how to text someone from my cell phone this year! To think I am a child of the Commodore 64 era! Oh man am I dating myself. A guy I work with just reminded me how old I am when I said that. He had on number 14 on his softball jersey so I said why? He said, "You don't remember who number 14 was?" Assume it is Red Sox so thought maybe Jason Bay? No he said Jerry Rice. Man that was like in the 70's and I don't remember numbers. Except of course Carlton Fisk # 27 and Larry Bird Celtics was 33. I couldn't even remember my beloved Butch Hobson's number!
But then again, the alzheimers might be creeping up on me!

First Hunting in SC

So husband and I went out on my first hunting trip today. Well actually, I didn't buy a Hunting license yet so I went to shoot pictures instead of deer. I brought my six dollar stand we bought at Independent Gun Club field day last year. For six bucks it works great. I also had to carry my folding chair but look how comfy I was. Second thing was how red my face is. That is due to the weather conditions and R making me trot all the way up this hill so I could overlook this area. Third thing was because I had no gun and in case there were wild creatures (ie coyotes? boars? snakes?), I would be somewhat protected. I had on my orange UnderArmor (cheap Walmart brand not really UnderArmor since that is a competitor of ours) and only a short sleeve camo shirt. Guys would care less what I am wearing but check out that RedHead hat! I love my husband for caring enough about me to buy me that.

So we didn't see or hear anything and counted about 5 other hunters in the woods with us. Yes that might be a bad thing, but sometimes it is good to know there are others there in case of emergency. I was sitting in this blind thinking to myself, if I am this winded climbing a hill, imagine if he gets a deer and I have to help drag it. Cardio treadmill here I come.

Post Debutante 1984

So I was thinking back to my high school days because there was top 100 songs of 80's on VH1 last Friday night. R and I watched all three hours of it and reminisced about certain songs had certain meanings. But it also made me remember that I did not go to my senior prom. It was too hectic of a month with D & S getting married on the 17th and then "Le Cotillion Ball" was also in June. I could of gone to my prom but new it was added cost to my Mom and I was not interested in boys so had no one to ask. I did ask Randall Hall, who I knew from 2nd grade at Parker School. He would never of wanted to be seen with me, but thought he would do it as a friend. Looking back now, I probably should of asked the one guy that I did like and had a crush on. There was something about his smile that I still remember and not to mention his legs while playing soccer. Yes legs...I was still not interested in boys that much so legs was about the only attribute that didn't scare me. But he was Portuguese so he probably would of only gone to the prom with a Portuguese girl.
We will never know. Unless at next year's 25th Reunion Class of 84' he is there and I will ask him who he went to the prom with.
But back to "Le Cotillion" which was the one thing I was so excited about. It was finally my turn. I had remembered all the times I was left behind while Mom, Dad, Memere & Pepere and Uncle D etc all went in their tuxedos and long gowns with high elbow gloves on the ladies. It was so beautiful and this was finally my turn. I had asked Eric Z. to escort since he was a good friend and again...not into boys much back then. (who knew?) I looked MAH-Velous and the red carnations against the white gown where stunning. My brother D took my Dad's place while presenting me. I also had M on my other arm during the procession. I still know how to do the famous curtsy which we practiced over and over again. What a wonderful memory and again, I still don't think I missed out on the prom seeing how I had Le Cotillion in it's place. (plus the Standard Times had my picture in it!) Oh if only french teacher could hear me pronounce things now. J'taime Francais.
"I Can't Stop This Feeling Anymore"- REO Speedwagon played both at first wedding in 1989 and D & J's wedding in October one year later with Mr. Hebert's DJ service.

My First Hail Storm

It was so earie sitting on the balcony and watching the front move across the street with this weird orange haze on the horizon. The wind picked up and the rain started. Then it started hailing for a good ten minutes. I was telling R to get away from the windows, but he was more enthralled by the hail and what potential damage it was doing to his truck than me. I was cowering in the laundry closet with Brier. He even knew it was bad. We live up on third floor (top) in apartment complex so it was directly above us and loud. The awesome part was smelling pine afterwards. R called me outside to not only see the steam coming off the pavement but to smell the pine. Now I think snow is better because it falls softly but snow also accumulates quicker. Better hail for ten minutes than snow for ten hours.

Bob & Pete's yeah that was the name of the Fish & Chip place cousin use to work at. It use to be over on Richmond and Cedar and Mrs. Gadbois worked there. Then they moved down to County Street and it got huge. Never was a real spiffy place, but the Fish & Chips were great.
Fish Ahoy was right after that. Mike likes Boston Seafood and Judy likes the place on the Blvd next to Gary's hotdogs. I love my Cape Quality!!
So I was on my way to church when husband said I should call friend to see if she wanted to go to church with me. I said; "It's not my job to call her", and left for church. I sat near Cate and her friend from England who told me she ate Fish & Chips there during the week. I digress to remember why don't they call it that down here? It's all "Fish Camp" and who ever thought of that name?
So back to church and sitting in the very last row reminded me of my Mom. (And Dad always liked the back pew too) Father starts talking about the reading of how we are all Cornerstones of the church and where we are missing fellow members, that it is our responsiblity to seek them out and invite them back to church. It was like God was talking directly to me and saying, "It is your job to call her". Talk about guilt. Then I get home and tell R and he laughs saying you can't beat that for guilt trip. But it gets better... I tell her on Monday when I see her that R said I should have called her to go to church. I didn't get a chance to tell her about my message from God because she starts saying how she should have gone and wish I did call her. UGH!!!
Talk about miss the boat. Boy did I miss the chance to do God's work!

Fish is just not the same

Okay we got hungry for fish and finally ventured out to a Seafood Restaurant. No not the local Red Lobster which I refuse to eat at. It was a local place and quiet a few cars were in the parking lot. Blueheads were getting out so we figured it must be good. That is always a clear sign that both the food and price are good. Follow the blueheads!
It was All You Can Eat Baby Flounder. It didn't sound as strange as eating catfish, tilapia, or devil crab. I asked what is devil crab and she said it has stuffing inside. That sounds more like Stuffed Crab to me! I really will miss my "Cape Quality Seafood" on Dartmouth Street. If anyone plans on visiting us, it is required to bring scrod/cod, haddock or even balcahau down here!
Mom I really miss you. A good friend of mine just recently lost her 59yr old mother quite suddenly. It makes me realise how far away you are and how much just little things about you I miss. Mental note to ask Mom to write a little note to me about some memory she has of me growing up. I love her hands. She has those Man hands that when you hold them, they are not at all feminine and tiny. They actually have substance and always made me feel good. It sometimes was to grab my hand and lead me away from what I was looking at in Fernandes while food shopping. I still can't believe Fernandes is now the NB Police Dept.
Back to her hands...I want a cast made of her hands and although it is morbid, I have to ask JIII if Perry's ever did that (post-mortum). Otherwise I will have to try to convince her to make a cast now. Plus think about some quality you really love about someone you lost, and how often can you smell, see, hear, or hold that quality?
I love my Mom's Man hands but more I miss her. I joked with her last night that when she comes to visit we will have to hoist her up to third floor. She laughed and said that maybe by then she will have back surgery and be cured. My prayers are with her because if I could take away just one hour of her pain, I would offer anything to do that. :0

Some random thoughts
Today is Golive for new computer system here and I am so screwed up it is not funny. Balloons are swaying in the cold air draft being blown in my direction. Can this white tshirt go the whole day without a stain on it? Ask my Mom for some random story about me that she can recall in detail. MomD should move in with Sandy and get some happiness back in her life. I wonder how much weight SF will lose? I just ate four slices of pizza and know that was not healthy but it was free and that alone made me want to stuff more pizza in my face. Brier is not here to eat the crust though!
How much money will I get and how come Golf clubs cost so bloody much?

Better late than never

So here I am in South Carolina. We thought we had enough room to take the hunting, hockey, scuba gear along with all the fishing poles he has but alas...it was tight.
We left at 10pm under the full moon and drove almost all night. We stopped in NJ for 45minute nap and got back on the road. R drove all the way until Greensboro, NC and then I took over.
We had my car on the tow dolly we rented so it was nerve racking to drive between the lines with that on the back.
We arrived about 3pm and unpacked what we could. The good news was there was an open garage right across the driveway for our stuff.
Now after the movers came and unloaded us and we got everything mostly unpacked..it is beginning to feel like home. I still have pictures to hang but where we just signed a six month lease, not sure if we will extend or move again.
My job is exactly the same as Canton, except on the new system. It is even the same layout of my cube, which is on a corner so it feels like home. The team down here was very welcoming and friendly and I feel like one of them. They are all mostly new hires and were in class together so they bonded before I got here. But they consider me a Rockstar and ask me to join them for lunch.
Hubby got a job last week but he doesn't like it much. It is machinst but he told them he does not know CNC. He has to weld too but that is the part he likes. The company is German so they use the metric system and he is having a hard time getting use to that. Just waiting to see if this will be short or long term. I would rather have happy husband come home after work than one bitching and moaning about how he hates this and that.
I will try to blog more often now that I am situated. GOLive is next week and it will be tough to learn all the new account info.

Frazzled

So everything is coming quick with the move and packing has begun. We still haven't found a house to rent yet but know that it makes a difference in where we pick. If not we will end up in apt building with the others which is fine by me.